I also only get about 4 hours sleep a night. Since its winter here the sun sets around 5pm and rises at about 9am. So, I lay awake in the dark quite a bit. - I have tried all kinds of sleep aids, getting drunk, muscle relaxation techniques, howling at the moon -- whatever {snicker} When I think about it, I have always been like this. This isn't a problem, its a feature - mwahaha

We are in the midst of a prairie winter cold spell. And by cold I mean its -30C (-16F) before the windchill is factored in. When you account for the wind its about -40... I do not mind a day or two of this weather, but it starts to wear on you after a while. My desire to bundle up & go outside is pretty low right now... {boo hoo for meeeee} (as I wallow in self pity )

Still looking for a job that will pay my bills and have a bit left over so I can save for my burn. Up until now, I have been working with no certifications. I realized this weekend that my prospects would be better with a IT certification or two. At least the starting position would be higher on the ladder. So, I begin the arduous process of teaching myself Cisco network configuration with the intent to take their certification exams. (eep, spending money to make money is kinda freaky!)

Otherwise life is not bad. My boys are doing ok. Hopefully my GF will soon be back on this continent. Only a couple time zones away {grin}

I hope everyone's day had gotten off to a good start! The coffee here is strong and hot

- I am avoiding discussing American politics for a while... Not sure if my socialist opinions will be appreciated {smirk} (if asked, I am happy to spout my opinion on all kinds of subjects. or if annoyed enough I will ramble on endlessly.... teehee)

Last week I decided to get my ePlaya user name to reflect my Playa name. Many years ago I was known as Stretch (thus Stretch80) after my 1st burn I was Rice. So, after 6+ years, my eplaya user name is my playa name "Rice".

Love Rice

Roach: "I feel like in this day and age, every girl should know how to build a flamethrower."

Yea I don't know what it is about me and sleeping. When I was a tike, jr high school, we used to try and stay awake for days just to see if we could. A number of years ago I was in a radio station contest for staying awake. We were in a car show room, we had to sit in a rocker, always moving, not even stop for 5 secs, plus of course stay awake. We got 5 minutes an hour to do whatever we wanted lolz. I lasted from Friday afternoon till Monday night. I didn't even go home and sleep: I stayed up and watched Monday Night Football ... Sleep is boring ... cr****

hey yggi, anti M, ASD elliiot and others it seems spending the day looking for work, worked just had phone call about a job and seems i may get some work soon! it seems being positive does make positve things happen, honestly glazing usualy stops from january to march.

though the job won'y start till next week so who wants to help me get to Reno for the weekend? (gotta try its too good a party to miss)

FREE THE SHERPASBurners with torches is right and natural and just.-fishy.CATCH AND RELEASE.

Question for the bar: It seems rather quite on the board. Does it pick up closer to the burn or is the membership somewhat small thus less posts? I tend to ramble a bit (old age thus at some of the boards it's rat tat tat .... cr****

Board usage varies. Yes, there's a whole lot in August (anticipation), and then in September (post-game analysis). Right now, the "Introduce Yourself" sub-forum is rather active. And of course the preparation and 2013 event sub-fora are going to get busier in a gentle rise until sometime in July when it will become quite steep.Hey, Trilo, can you produce graphs?

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

Yeah, the character of this board changes throughout the year. We are near the end of the grab-ass season, in the beginning of the worrying-about-tickets season and near the first of the brainstorming season. Relax and enjoy the ride.

Yeah, the character of this board changes throughout the year. We are near the end of the grab-ass season, in the beginning of the worrying-about-tickets season and near the first of the brainstorming season. Relax and enjoy the ride.

For sure. I only go to about 3 boards (music festy) and they are about the same. There is the core group that is on year long and we become friends even if we don't eventually meet. I tend to stick out a bit because on most of the boards the age is 25-35 but I just become the "burr in my shoes" for some and a sage to others ... Get used to me thru the year cuz the board is stuck with us newest members cr****

Hey, Ygmir, I cut down the first of 12 Italian cypresses with the GF's electric chainsaw. The trunk was surprisingly thick, probably too big for the recyclers. The GF says "why not keep it for firewood?" Duh.The electric chainsaw might be too wimpy for the trees. Fancy a trip to the flatlands?

canexplain wrote:Question for the bar: It seems rather quite on the board. Does it pick up closer to the burn or is the membership somewhat small thus less posts? I tend to ramble a bit (old age thus at some of the boards it's rat tat tat .... cr****

Winter is always the quiet season here. Once tickets start selling it'll get busier because people will join to exult or rant or ask questions. March and April will get busy with theme camp activity and new people and art stuff, and it'll remain busy through the rest of the summer with people getting ready. September is also very busy, as Fishy says. October is fairly active too, but less so.

Many Burners don't use or know about ePlaya, however.

Oh, man . . .

I am having some wonderful Royal Kona coffee that a friend brought me from Honolulu, in my new french press. It is absolutely wonderful. Now I might make pancakes and bacon.

And yes, it is 2:09 in the afternoon.

*** 2017 Survival Guide ***"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

canexplain wrote:Question for the bar: It seems rather quite on the board. Does it pick up closer to the burn or is the membership somewhat small thus less posts? I tend to ramble a bit (old age thus at some of the boards it's rat tat tat .... cr****

Winter is always the quiet season here. Once tickets start selling it'll get busier because people will join to exult or rant or ask questions. March and April will get busy with theme camp activity and new people and art stuff, and it'll remain busy through the rest of the summer with people getting ready. September is also very busy, as Fishy says. October is fairly active too, but less so.

Many Burners don't use or know about ePlaya, however.

short answer = yes it does get busier

FREE THE SHERPASBurners with torches is right and natural and just.-fishy.CATCH AND RELEASE.

Don't tell anyone, but we're actually kind of busy right now. Unlike summertime (when it gets much busier), the majority of site traffic during this time of year is from lurkers. New folks who are thinking about going to the event and register an account, then maybe reading the boards without necessarily venturing forth to post.

This is still deep in the off-season, though. Active participation on the boards usually starts to pick up after people get tickets, then it bumps up quite a bit starting in late April as theme camps firm up their plans and get their questionnaires in (followed shortly by mutant vehicles, and then submissions to the WWW guide and registered art projects).

Congrats on the name change, Rice, and good luck with the classes. Sounds like a good plan, as things get more interconnected it would seem that there'd be more demand for networking pros. You can keep the cold weather though, I moved away from parts north for a reason and it's been cold enough around here as it is.

I haven't seen a bit of the inauguration, or anything else newsy today. I've been up to my eyeballs working on webby things for my camp's website. Getting self-congratulatory for a minute we've had a pretty decent site for the last few years, but with that site and a couple others I manage the application I had been using was kind of at its limit. I've got access to some much more powerful web design tools through a subscription thing I'm on, and have been meaning to learn how to use them and make a new site from the ground up. I finally 'went live' with the new design (and through a new host) last night, and have been continuing to scramble and add bits all day. I finally got the social media buttons added in, but now my brain's all melty… I must cool said brain with strong drink!

Hey, Ygmir, I cut down the first of 12 Italian cypresses with the GF's electric chainsaw. The trunk was surprisingly thick, probably too big for the recyclers. The GF says "why not keep it for firewood?" Duh.The electric chainsaw might be too wimpy for the trees. Fancy a trip to the flatlands?

my short answer is yeah, I could help cut trees down.photos and or details would help.

Sorry to have missed your birthday, AntiM! Have some please, least I can do.

I worked like crazy all weekend, all our area hospitals are FULL and I leaped up yesterday before dawn to walk down to the Mall and watch the Inauguration. Wonderful day. Wonderful to see all the happy people. Wonderful how every 4 years we get a huge pro-government demonstration right here in my backyard.

I am missing Knowmad too. Hope he wanders back soon!

Great story, Elliot! And good luck with your job-search, Grai.

"Burning Man ruined my life as I knew it, and I have never been happier." -mgb327

Hi MDF, was thinking that you might have seen the inauguration. I watched it on TV and it is an inspiring event that does celebrate our overarching unity as Americans. YG, as usual, had the right words to describe it yesterday. Even the weather seemed to cooperate yesterday as well. Now it's back to the partisan trenches, I guess! Hope not.

The only thing mere McDonalds Drive-thru mortals such as I will recognize is the toast, but it all looks good!

Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom-smashers, and a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a chimpanzee, and I care NOT who writes this nation’s laws. ... S.J. Perelman

*wanders in, makes CCC* Thanks MDF!wow, lucky you, to get to walk over, and see such a spectacle. Glad you had a good time.wonderful Sindanje, Misa!! I need it today!Roark: get used to Misa bringing wonderful breakfast foods for us.....she's so good to us all.

ok, so here's my possible emergency of the day:I woke up, with a little bit of a sort throat, stuffy nose, blocked ears. DAMN!so, washed my eyes out with boric acid ( I make my own antiseptic eye wash), ears with rubbing alcohol, saline spray in the sinus', gargled with listerine, and put "thieves blend" oil in my mustache...........I'll do the vitamin C and stuff.. Damn I don't want to be sick and miss the Amtrak party!!

ygmir wrote:*wanders in, makes CCC* Thanks MDF!wow, lucky you, to get to walk over, and see such a spectacle. Glad you had a good time.wonderful Sindanje, Misa!! I need it today!Roark: get used to Misa bringing wonderful breakfast foods for us.....she's so good to us all.

ok, so here's my possible emergency of the day:I woke up, with a little bit of a sort throat, stuffy nose, blocked ears. DAMN!so, washed my eyes out with boric acid ( I make my own antiseptic eye wash), ears with rubbing alcohol, saline spray in the sinus', gargled with listerine, and put "thieves blend" oil in my mustache...........I'll do the vitamin C and stuff.. Damn I don't want to be sick and miss the Amtrak party!!

If I notice a cold at the itchy throat stage, I find zinc lozenges keep it from getting real bad, or lasting as long. Sounds like you have an aggressive pro active regimen. I've got my fingers crossed.

good call Elorrum:I found some elderberry/zinc/C lozenges. crushed one in my coffee with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg (in addition to the cream and chocolat). Took "green black walnut hull and wormwood" also.